This page is messy and incomplete and I know it. Apologies.
I promise to fix it as soon as I have a few hours to do so.
Reflection, introspection, and thought are cords b
inding recovery together and part of the process by which we become better human beings. There is AA literature, and devotional literature, and self help elsewhere. Here is the spiritual quest of an atheist, hungry and curious. Loosely, I’m going to explore the “12 steps” a month at a time. Understanding that they’re a ladder, and that ‘recovery’ is just the beginning of it.
JANUARY: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.
Accepting the Unacceptable, January 31
The now, and the life story. January 28
Lose yourself, a meditation on heart breaking, January 27
Powerful or powerless, January 26
Reflection: Seeing the within, January 25
Paradox: a reflection on powerlessness, January 24.
A season of isolated light. January 22.
Love the flaw, Spiritual, not Religious. January 20.
Beginnings, Ending. January 18
The thread of honesty, January 17
The importance of say, January 16
Surrender: swallowing grief. January 14
Life can never be long enough, January 13
What I called scar, and named it world January 12
Speaking out of silence, January 9
Blessings of Silence, January 8
The Jumping off point, January 6
The door of January, January 5
Ministry of boiling water, January 2
FEBRUARY: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
After the battle. February 28.
Reverence and power. February 26.
I’ve come to believe. February 25.
The spiritual path is an unmarked dirt track, and humble. February 24.
Divine intervention. February 22.
The atheist at prayer. February 21.
Soggy with mercy. February 20.
Leaping into faith. February 19.
Alcoholic Insanity. February 17.
Brought to our knees, February 16.
If god is love. A life of intimacy. February 14.
Word made flesh: alcohol, insanity, belief. February 9.
Something larger than yourself, February 8.
Step Two as Rallying Point, February 7.
Sanity as perspective, February 6.
Restorative Sanity, February 4.
Restore us to Safety, February 3.
MARCH: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Saints, poverty, and letting go. March 28.
Learning to be alive. March 27.
Angels, demons, and history. March 26.
More pang, more sweet, more human. March 24.
Meditation on snowmen. March 23.
Full moon at copper lake, March 22.
Robins from other places. March 18.
Disappearing, reappearing in surrender. March 16.
Moodswings, and swinging on the gate of calm. March 14.
A spirituality of acceptance. March 13.
Karma and the third step. March 11.
Prayer and Winter grasses. March 8.
Ceremony and commitment. March 4.
The shame that binds us. March 2.
Step Three: Returning to Normal. March 1.
OCTOBER: Continued to take a personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
Continued (Keep Coming Back!). October 13.
Hygienic Philosophy. October 9.
Time and Accomplishment. October 7.
Riddle on Sweeping. October 5.
The Fucking Lot of Them. October 4.
Personal Inventory, October 3.
SEPTEMBER: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Blind and Drunk Swayed. September 17.
Obsession, Like Jazz. September 14.
Spun Merry-Go-Round, Stood Revolution. September 13.
Apology as Heaven. September 11.
I know who I am. September 10.
The Algebra of the Universe. September 7.
AUGUST: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
The Song Culture of Birds. August 28.
Floored, and Faith. August 26.
The Ceaseless Will in Things to Survive. August 13.
Concentrated Universe. August 11.
Tvat tvam asi. That art thou. August 10.
Summer and the Divine. August 9.
I said nothing about heaven. August 5.
Icy couch, empty space, falling in. August 4.
Not braids, tangles. August 3.
The Deepest veins of emotion, August 2.
JULY: Humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings.
Philosophers, Students, Artists. July 31
Faithless Human, Honesty, and the Saving Net July 28
Sex, sense, the erotic and being a good person, July 24
Strength and Weakness, July 23
Theories of Relativity, July 21
The Last Eulogy I Wrote. Wrote with a Bottle of Jamison, July 20
Suffering is a reason to love, July 18
The Seized Opportunity Renders Hard Joy, July 17
Pathology and Passion, July 14
The Completion of the World, July 7
Life with no god in it, again, July 1
Life with no god in it, July 1
JUNE: Were entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character.
Pause and Break Through, June 24
Austen and Character Defects, June 15
MAY: Admitted to god, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
To another human being, May 27
A description of breaking, May 25
Resolved to landscape, May 16.
Recklessly standing still, May 7.
Compassion and the 5th, May 2.
APRIL: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Why do a fourth step? April 5.
